Dr. Einmug
Doctor Einmug is a scientist who was created by Ted Osborne and Floyd Gottfredson in the story Island in the Sky, published in the Mickey Mouse daily comic strip from November 1936 to April 1937. He is a large man who wears a big white beard and laboratory coat. Doctor Einmug specializes in atomic physics and speaks in a German-like accent which was probably a nod toward Albert Einstein. His introductory story, Island in the Sky, raises many issues about the benefits but also the dangers of atomic physics just a few years before the first atom bombs were developed. In Island in the Sky, Einmug has discovered the means of manipulating atoms in such a way that they effectively act as a force field, holding things up, down or at a distance. By manipulating these atoms, he can drive a car through the air as if it was on a road and even walk in the air himself as if he were walking down the street. He can even hold other flying vehicles such as planes in mid-air unable to go anywhere. By manipulating these atoms, Einmug was able to raise an island high into the sky, into the clouds. The island included his laboratory and living quarters. Einmug was a wealthy man who simply wanted a quiet place to do his research. Mickey had been sent by his friend Captain Doberman of the US Army Air Forces to persuade Einmug to entrust his secrets to them since such power could be dangerous in the wrong hands. Einmug was well aware of this, pointing out that his atomic force could be used for peace but also for war. Mickey was of the opinion that if his (that is the American) government had the secret then "it'd stop wars — on account of anybody else 'ud be scared t' start one" (deterrence theory?). Einmug's answer was "My boy, if I could believe dot — I would giff you mine invention for nodding! But I don't!" Einmug was even prepared to go so far as to cause the destruction of his island and everyone on it (including himself) when Peg-Leg Pete came close to obtaining his formulae. Mickey stopped Pete but in spite of his and Doberman's entreaties to give them his secrets, Einmug refused to entrust it to any hands, good or bad, and took off in his island to what he announced would be another planet. After that, Einmug did not re-appear in American comics for almost 50 years, but he was used in Italian ones, starting some 12 years later in 1959 when he appeared in Romano Scarpa's Topolino e la dimensione Delta ("Mickey Mouse and the Delta Dimension"). In this story he had discovered the means to travel to what he called the Delta Dimension, which was effectively an infinite void of nothing, just space. Setting his laboratory up in the Delta Dimension, Einmug pursued his work and discovered that atoms were in fact living beings. He thus increased the size of one of them to that of a small boy and named him Atomo Bleep-Bleep (Italian: Atomino Bip-Bip). Atomo was highly intelligent and had many supernatural abilities, including turning metal into chocolate or estimating with absolute precision when an object was created. Atomo would accompany Mickey on several adventures as a kind of alternative Eega Beeva. Einmug himself has also appeared in numerous European Mickey Mouse comics. He is often shown as less secretive and paranoid than in his original appearance, though his discoveries are still coveted by the likes of Pete and the Phantom Blot. Einmug reappeared in American comics in 1991 in the story A Snatch in Time! in which he had developed a time machine. It was written by Lamar Waldron and drawn by Rick Hoover and Gary Martin. He also appeared in American editions of The Delta Dimension and other European-made stories. In American comics, Atomo Bleep-Bleep speaks with a German accent identical to Einmug's, insofar as Einmug was presented as Atomo's language teacher. Category:Mickey Mouse universe characters Category:Anthropomorphic characters Category:Scientists Category:Adults Category:Characters introduced in comics Category:Characters Category:Disney characters